This blog is "a discussion about business ethics, character traits, integrity and values," which is good. But I have a hard time writing about bad ethical decisions, about bad characters with low integrity. The Fannie Mae "improper accounting" affair, for example, frustrated me. Reading every day about scandals frustrates me, writing about it frustrates me more.
It is discouraging to know so much of that goes on. It seems futile to write about it, because I don't see how to express it in any way other than "here we go again, and there's nothing we can do." What is the point?
Everything I read moves the opposite direction. How to not let work consume your life. How to be honest with yourself and people close to you, at home and at work. How to be happy. I see that as the real ethical issue of our day.
Is our time spent pursuing genuine happiness? Do we live with integrity in thought and action, true to our core values? Is our character bruised by what we do for a living?I see no way to change the Fannie Maes and the Enrons, but I do see ways we can change ourselves, different decisions you and I can make daily that will have different results. Now that I like writing about.
